Bengal Assembly Speaker finally accepts Tapas Roy’s resignation

Kolkata: The resignation of veteran Trinamool Congress legislator Tapas Roy -- who officially joined the BJP on Wednesday -- from the membership of the state Assembly was finally accepted by the Speaker of the House, Biman Bandopadhyay, on Thursday afternoon.

Although Roy had tendered his resignation on March 4, the Speaker did not officially accept it because of some technical flaws.

Later, it was learnt that in case of resignation by a legislator, which should be mandatorily hand-written, it has to be mentioned that it was tendered voluntarily by the MLA concerned, without coming under any pressure.

On Thursday, Roy again went to the room of the Speaker and tendered a fresh resignation after assuring Bandopadhyay that it was being submitted voluntarily without any pressure.

After the resignation was accepted, both the Speaker and Roy recalled their long friendship.

“We go back a long time. However, we will have to continue with our assignments now,” the Speaker said.

“We have been friends for a long time. We both worked together as councillors at one point in time,” said Roy.

After officially joining the BJP on Wednesday, Roy said it became impossible for him to continue to work in the Trinamool Congress, as he accused the party of running the state government without caring for the minimum democratic decorum.

“Trinamool has become a party dominated by anti-social elements like Sheikh Shahjahan, Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar. So, I have consciously quit the Trinamool and joined the BJP,” Roy said.